Part One: Me, Myself and I

This will be a three part post. I will be writing on an experience I had this weekend that really gave me reassurance and hope that I am on the right track. I hope this will be helpful to others. This experience came in the form of a favor I did for two students. Their assignment was to write a profile paper on someone and they had picked a local married couple whom were artists. This experience proved to be one that surprised me. I was hesitant at first to take them seeing that this would be my only day to sleep in. I decided to stop being lazy and took them.

There studio was separate from their house and stood two stories in the air with beautiful big windows. Inside the walls were covered with art and unique nick knacks.  It was almost like we were in a rural modern museum of art. After conversing over the odd and end things the students settled in for the interview.

The couple was a very unique and interesting couple. They had been and lived everywhere which I especially admired. They were free spirits who had lived their life as they wanted.  Both of them had wonderful and interesting things to say however the interview with the wife was most interesting to me. She said many things that I had recently been wondering myself. I felt as though her soul was reaching out to my confused, lost soul guiding it and reassuring all that I believed in.  During the interview, the artist touched on three main concepts that stuck with me; thus why I am dividing this post into three parts.

Lesson One: Enjoy Your Own Company

The interview starting by the couple reflecting on the time they spent in Iceland. Her husband was stationed there for the Navy and took many trips for extended periods of time. They didn’t live on base so she did not have the company of others. She spent a great deal of time alone and with only a radio and knitting supplies as entertainment.  She always kept busy and never felt alone. She accredited this to the fact that she enjoyed her own company.

Throughout the interview she referenced this point over and over as if it was a reoccurring theme. This caused me to ponder this concept; enjoying your own company.  Do I enjoy my own company?  Am I happy enough with myself to be alone?  If you are like me, you feel a need to be around people, noise, and energy.  I am always going, always surrounded and never give myself solitude. I even watch television until I fall asleep. My mind has no time alone throughout the day.
I feel solitude is an important key for us as humans. It gives us time to think and listen to ourselves. For the past few years, I have bounced around ideas for potential career paths and where I want to live.  I have not sat in silence and allowed myself to think about what I want out of life.  I am not sure I know myself as well as I should which may contribute to my lack of ability to make decisions.  I am not entirely sure what will make me happy.  I took this as a lesson that to be happy you have to be happy with yourself. If you are happy with yourself you can be happy anywhere while doing anything.